Symbol Analysis
When we read "Incident," we definitely feel the distance between who the speaker is at the present moment of the poem, and who he was at the time of the incident on the bus. There's a retrospective tone to the poem, and a large part of that is due to very small moments in which Cullen frames the poem with the diction of storytelling. This lends the poem an almost fable or fairytale-like air. The happy ending, though, is missing (sorry chicas and chicos).
- Line 1: The poem begins with the word "once," so we are immediately transported to "once upon a time" territory.
- Line 5: The word "now" at the beginning of the line sucks us into the poem even further. In this instance, it feels like the speaker is setting us up for a big moment (and when we read on, we find out that he totally is).
- Lines 9-12: There's a feeling of retrospection in these final lines. The speaker looks back on this distant moment, and explains how it has defined his life, for better or for worse. (We're voting for "for worse").